In a quiet lab tucked behind a bustling aerospace test facility, a team of engineers’ huddles around a vibration test rig. The goal? Capture high-frequency data from a jet engine prototype spinning at thousands of RPM. Every microsecond counts. Every signal matters. And the hardware behind it all? A compact, rugged data acquisition system built by UEI.
This isn’t just any DAQ setup. At the heart of the system is UEI’s 4-channel IEPE/ICP Vibration Sensor Interface—a board purpose-built for high-fidelity vibration analysis. With simultaneous sampling across all channels, engineers can capture transient events and subtle shifts in amplitude with pinpoint accuracy. Whether monitoring turbine blades, acoustic signatures, or structural resonance, the board delivers clean, phase-aligned data at high speed.
But the real magic happens when you scale.
Simultaneous Sampling at the Board Level: Precision Made Easy
UEI’s simultaneous sampling boards—available in 4, 8, and 16-channel configurations—make it simple to capture synchronized data across multiple inputs. Each channel samples independently using its own ADC, eliminating phase errors and ensuring that every signal is captured at the exact same instant. For most single-board applications, this level of precision is more than enough.
Synchronizing Multiple Boards: One Clock to Rule Them All
When your test setup expands to multiple boards within the same chassis, UEI makes synchronization seamless. All boards share the same on-board clock, ensuring that every sample across every channel is perfectly aligned. No external timing hardware. No complex configuration. Just plug in, configure, and collect synchronized data across dozens of channels.
Synchronizing Across Multiple Chassis: Scalable, Sophisticated, and Still Simple
Need even more channels? UEI supports synchronization across multiple chassis—ideal for large-scale test stands, distributed systems, or multi-node sensor arrays. Engineers can choose between two robust options:
- Distribute a Common Clock: Share a master clock signal across all chassis to ensure unified timing.
- Synchronize On-Board Clocks: Use UEI’s built-in synchronization protocols to align individual clocks across systems.
Both methods offer sub-microsecond alignment, enabling massive data acquisition setups without sacrificing timing integrity. Whether you're capturing vibration data from dozens of sensors or coordinating measurements across a test facility, UEI’s synchronization tools scale with your ambition. Check out all UEI’s high-speed simultaneous sampling boards.
Built for Real-World Engineering
UEI’s boards and chassis are designed to thrive in demanding environments—from aerospace labs to military vehicles. They integrate seamlessly with UEI’s Cube, Rack, and MIL-grade platforms, and support a wide range of software environments including LabVIEW, Simulink, MATLAB, Python, and C++. We deliver an extensible platform where rugged sensor integration, modern and legacy avionic protocols, synchronicity, and modular I/O architectures align to support mission-critical applications with unmatched flexibility and reliability. Long-term availability and lifecycle support ensure your investment is protected for years to come.
So, whether you're building a smarter test stand, deploying a rugged control system, or scaling up to a facility-wide data acquisition network, UEI has the tools to help you get there. Because in the world of engineering, precision isn’t optional—it’s everything.